Content strategy things and stuff

Today the BBC has a story about Universal Music Group, one of the remaining behemoths in the once thriving and diverse world of record label world, announcing their backing of free music downloads. Free, that is, if you don’t mind watching some quick adverts. No word on what sort of DRM these will have attached.

You could play them on this nifty portable device from Samsung. It has mp3, wma, and ogg playback plus an FM radio! You can use it after you buy it in Japan, that is, as it is not offered for sale here. You would think that this is a trend or something.

This business is changing faster and faster than previous medium transitions [78rpm to LP, LP & cassette to CD]. I must give due to the title of this article, making a play on the famous Marshall McLuhan phrase. It is a good bit of background on where the record biz has been. This article gives the details of Tower Records, a major brick-and-mortar record store, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

As always, some are smart and trying to figure out how to deal with it out in the open. Nettwork, a Canadian record label, is doing something interesting with a major upcoming release, as are other artists, like the Grammy-award winning Beck. Details on the unorthodox release of his upcoming album here.

Bob Dylan talks about the current state of music and the industry in his recent Rolling Stone interview, quoted on the Huffington Post. Apparently, we needn’t even pay attention to the industry, anyway. All the good music has already been made.